The present invention is directed to a promoter derived from an Arabidopsis gene. The promoter of the invention is useful in transgenic organisms in which a high level of production of a gene product is desired.
Promoters are regulatory elements that direct the expression of genes. Both constitutive and regulated promoters are used to direct gene expression in transgenic organisms including plants. Constitutive promoters direct expression in most or all tissues, and are useful when high levels of production of a gene product are desired. The 35S promoter from cauliflower mosaic virus (CMV) is frequently used to direct constitutive expression. Regulated promoters, such as tissue-specific and inducible promoters, are used to direct spatially or temporally specific expression, or expression in response to environmental factors.
The present invention is directed to a promoter that directs constitutive expression of genes in plants. The present promoter is derived from a gene of Arabidopsis thaliana. In accordance with the present invention, it has been discovered the subject promoter can direct high levels of constitutive expression of heterologous genes in plants.
The present invention is directed to an isolated promoter derived from a gene of Arabidopsis thaliana that encodes an endomembrane associated (ENDO) gene. In a preferred embodiment, the promoter has at least 70% identity to the sequence of SEQ ID NO:1. The present invention further provides a nucleic acid construct comprising the promoter of the invention operably linked to a heterologous nucleic acid. Vectors comprising the nucleic acid construct are also provided. In another embodiment, the present invention is directed to a plant cell comprising the nucleic acid construct of the invention. Transgenic plants and progeny thereof comprising the construct, parts of such plants, and methods of making such plants, are also provided.